Breakwater
Breakwater is the thirteenth part in the Loaded March series. It was published to Archive of Our Own on December 26, 2013. It consists of 100,814 words. Here is the link. Summary Never has the world felt more right than now, with Merlin free and once again with Arthur and Excalibur. Except it's not over. It's only begun. There's more to the war than they'd ever suspected. More players than they'd counted on. And no idea how to fight against it all. Plot Happiness, action, and still some pain. Merlin is a BAMF. Merlin and Arthur have sex for the first time in 274,504 words (also known as: THE WORLD IS GONNA END AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH) ooOOoo Merlin and Arthur are reunited, but in this edition of Loaded March, the action never stops. Merlin, Arthur, and Owain are stranded from the rest of the team in Paris. Their comms are being jammed and they're being tracked somehow. Arthur tries to fill in Merlin on what has been happening while they sneak around the streets, trying to find a safe way out. Eventually, after some close run-ins with NWO or MI-6 agents, Arthur steals a car and the speed out of Paris. After losing tails and taking a cicuitous route, Merlin falls asleep in the car, exhausted. O helps motivate Arthur to come up with a plan by giving one of his lovely metaphors, telling Arthur to be an IED. Arthur realizes that Olaf has been, in some way, been helping Excalibur all along--by sending Will and by maybe sending in the police at Aredians to serve as a distraction. He also discovers that there may be yet another party involved in this whole mess. Merlin is a bit of a mess. He feels like he can't get his magic under control--it seems like its own entity--and he is terrified of it. He also is exhausted and is finally able to reflect on the horrors that he encountered while captured. Merlin also discovers that Uther is still playing his part in this--by way of Geoffrey Monmouth, the only person that Merlin had told about his work on the 'E' frequency, which is why their communications had been jammed. While Arthur and Merlin discuss their new discoveries, they figure out that Uther is trying to eraidcate magic--that is how he is trying to counter the NWO's coming attack. Arthur also tells Merlin that his father is alive, which Merlin does not take well. Meanwhile in London, Kay and Will are on their way to pick up Gaius and to meet up with Will's handlers/MI-6 contacts. They squabble and then have some words about Merlin and Arthur. Will then meets up with Olaf, hinting abour working with Arthur and blackmailing Olaf with Vivian so that Olaf will turn over information that Arthur wants. Kay in the meantime grabs Gaius. After leaving lunch with Olaf, Will heads to his American contacts to set up a later meeting. Merlin is pissed at his family--mad that Balinor left, mad that his mom never told him she knew. Arthur, Merlin, and Owain get on a boat to cross the channel and meet up with Pellinor, Lamorak, and Gareth. Then there is an epic, magic fueled storm and they all almost dies, but Merlin goes BAMF with his magic and saves everyone multiple times. Ian Johnson, the captain of the ship, is a bit freaked out. They make it across and Merlin continues to panic about his 'broken' magic. Pel, Arthur, and Merlin head to a safe house. While in the car, they hear about the Chunnel collapsing and then a creepy NWO song. It is the signal to all NWO members that their plan is begun and is set in motion. There are other 'natural disasters' reported world wide. Pel drives them to a nice B&B where he leaves Merls and Arthur while he runs errands and goes to the doctor. Merlin and Arthur call Gaius to talk about Merlin's wild magic. They learn that Balinor had had someone put a lock on Merlin's magic and that Gaius had known about it. Merlin is not pleased. Gaius also thinks that Merlin just has to stop holding onto his magic so tightly and to just let it be--then Merlin will begin to feel better and not exhausted all of the time. Arthur and Merlin than have a lovely talk about trust, breaking Merlin apart, and putting him back together. There may be kissing and lube involved. In London, Kay and Will get in a Tube accident and are hurt quite badly. Kay saves a kid, Bran, and Bran tags along, saying he'd feel safter with secret agents than on his own. He's a lovely cheeky little bugger. Kay and Will (and Bran) get the fuck out of there, but they pick up a trail of some NWO sorcerors. Kay calls Arthur and Merlin for backup. They are saved by Bran, who has magic, Merlin and Arthur. They head to the Pentagram to find some NWO members. In a stunning role reversal, Merlin is revealed in his terrifying glory. His new role is to be the big boss behind everything. He scares the piss out of Tristan and inerogates him to find out more about the NWO and who is running the shots. In the club, Freya is attached to a magical bomb--a relic that they learn will enhance magic. Merlin tries to diffuse it with no success. The bomb blows up. Merlin does some more BAMF magic. The war has begun. Quotes "You need to become an IED," Owain said quietly, raising a hand to forestall anything that Arthur was about to say...The point being, up until lately, you've been a cookie-cutter bomb. Machine-worked casing, off-the-shelf wiring, one-pound-store countdown timer that runs a bit fast or slow, depending on the battery. Complicated as fuck, with contingencies on contingencies. It's not a matter of figuring out how to defuse it. It's a matter of seeing whether you can beat the built-in safeties before the timer runs out...They beat the clock. They stopped you good."--Owain to Arthur : "You don't like Arthur. I get it. I don't bloody have to listen to it. He's my Captain. He's my mate. He stuck his head out for me more times than I can count, he's been there for the others when they needed him, and, for fuck's sake, he'll give you his shirt off his back if you were bare-arsed and streaking through London proper, even knowing how you feel about him. You know why he'll do it?" "To make himself look good, why else? Anything to get into Merlin's pants --" "He'll do it because he's a good man, that's why, and that's more than I can say for you, going around with your head up your arse spouting bollocks about him, and you haven't bothered to sit down and get to know him, have you? Decided you didn't like the look of him that first time we met at the bar, decided to be an arse to him from there on out, didn't you? God. Merlin said you were a wanker, but that you were a decent bloke. I've yet to see it." --Kay to Will : "I'm not all right," Merlin whispered. His hands reached up to scratch his head, his fingers pulling at his hair. Arthur knelt in front of Merlin, crawling as close as he could, and he took Merlin's hands, gently prying them off. Merlin shook his head. "I'm not all right."--''Merlin to Arthur : ''"Do you ''trust me?" Arthur repeated, his tone earnest. "Do you trust that I'd never hurt you? That I'd never do you wrong? Do you trust that I'd never turn my back on you, that I'll always come for you, that I'll never leave you?...Arthur leaned in, his lips brushing against Merlin's, sending shivers down his spine. "Then trust yourself, Merlin. Because that's how much I trust you. With everything''."--Arthur to Merlin : "This... this particular PT... Is it going to involve a lot of sex?" Merlin asked casually.Arthur huffed a laugh in the crook of Merlin's neck. "I just think... if a good training program needs a good foundation, maybe frequent sex in as many positions as possible might be a requirement to get back in fighting shape--" ''--Merlin to Arthur : ''Kay kept moving, but surely and deliberately, putting his hand on the wall next to Will's head, using his arm as a shield. He came in close, really close, the sort of close where body heat was being shared and one of them had better have just nearly drowned in icy cold waters, and Will blurted out, "Don't you dare kiss me again." : Series Timeline